Lesson 20 - The verb "To give"

In Trinidadian French Creole, the verb "to Give" is bay which is pronounced (buy, bye, by)

You will see the Creole word "bay" written in three different ways:

Ban, ba, bay

ban [bah(n)] comes before the Creole pronouns "mwen" and "nou"

Example:

Yo ké ban mwen yon tas. - They will give me a cup.

Yo ké ban nou yon tas. - They will give us a cup.

Ba [bah] is used before the pronouns OU, LI, YO

Example:

Mwen ba'w lajan. - I give you money.

Mwen ba y lajan. - I give her money.

Mwen ba yo lajan. - I give them money.

Note: 'w is a contraction of the pronoun "ou"

'y is a contraction of the pronoun "li"

Bay (buy) is ALWAYS used at the end of a sentence

Example:

Kisa ou vlé nou bay? - What do you want us to give?

Ou voudwé bay? - Would you like to give?

Lastly ba and bay can be used interchangeably when they appear after pronouns and before nouns.

Example

Mwen té bay Miguel bèbèl-la. - I gave Miguel the toy.

Mwen té ba Miguel bèbèl-la. - I gave Miguel the toy.

Li ba James dé bèl sak. - She gave James two beautiful bags.

Yo ba Jézi yon kouwonn pikan. - They gave Jesus a crown of thorns.

Bay Jézi lavi-w. - Give your life to Jesus.

Sé pou maman bay ti-moun lanmou - Mothers must give children love.